Wine & Indian cuisine

Source:
Richard Ross, The Wine Society of India

Much of the lexicon of food and wine matching that is still so
often repeated today was developed in the West, and as a result tends to follow
many of the culinary cues that historically exist in European cuisine. The old
mantra of ‘white with fish, red with meat’ isn’t terribly
helpful when you’re dealing with the more complex, layered flavours of
Indian cuisine, and where the individual interpretation of a dish might bring
different nuances of flavour from one region to another.

The culture
that blends wine and food is still relatively new to India, but the influence of
traditional wine-making regions of Europe, Australia and the Americas still
casts too large a shadow over the principles applied in making those
matches.

Too often the word Gewurztraminer has been used as a
catch-all suggestion for a good match with spice-rich foods. This aromatic grape
variety certainly has its place, but in many cases its full-on aromatics, its
heavy texture and mouthfeel, and the residual sugar that goes with that, can
combine to flatten and mask the subtler elements of spice within the food. You
can also end up with a wine that has little more flavour character than a
commercial brand of air freshener, and the perfume to match.

Aromatic wines with complexity of flavour are certainly your
friends, though, and the chances are that it’s a white wine that will
provide the better match with your dish. For big flavours in your food, you
don’t necessarily need to turn to the big guns of the wine world to find a
match, so chunky reds are usually off the menu when you’re enjoying Indian
food, although with meat dishes straight from the tandoor they might just be
exactly what you’re looking for. Otherwise, look at grape varieties like
Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, which have an inherently aromatic quality, bright
acidity, and a texture and body that can still hold their own with
full-flavoured dishes. Also, varieties like Semillon from Australia, Riesling or
Verdelho would be worth a try, and some of the drier Chenin
Blancs.

Where a red wine suits your mood, always aim for
lighter-bodied wines, and avoid those with too high a level of tannin or
alcohol. A Syrah from southern France, perhaps a Cotes du Rhone, or a soft
Valpolicella from northern Italy would be ideal, or look to a youthful New World
Pinot Noir with balanced fruit and acidity, or a rounded Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Sauvignon can be a tricky variety as, in its red form,
it’s invariably too tannic, but there are plenty of attractive rose
versions that give a lush red fruit character, and matching acidity, without the
accompanying tannins, to match with Indian cuisine.

There are likely
to be some wines that are just too bullying in their style to allow for any
lasting relationships with your food. With Indian cuisine you’re unlikely
to find that red wines with a lot of heavy tannin are very food-friendly, and
the same is true of both reds and whites that have been heavily oaked,
especially with lots of new oak. The spice will tend to over-accentuate the
tannic, oaky character of these wines and in turn will overpower the food
itself. However, a lightly-oaked white, even a Chardonnay, particularly one aged
with the slightly creamier, vanilla and coconut character of American oak, can
be a healthy pairing with a dish that has coconut milk as part of its
base.

Matching is designed to help both the food and the wine, so a
bit of mutual adjustment might be necessary to create the best effect. You
can’t expect every dish to have its perfect match with a wine – some
ingredients are just going to be too tough to allow that, but because Indian
cuisine usually involves a real symphony of ingredients, it may be possible to
notch back on some of the tougher matching challenges and create a more suitable
blend. Full-blown chilli flavours are going to prove tough, as they can just
knock out any subtlety or nuance in a wine by numbing your palate to everything
else. Also, strong citrus flavours will overpower a wine too. Likewise, a heavy
dairy component, like a rich, yoghurt-based dish, can create such a
mouth-coating effect as to make wine matching equally tough. The answer? A
sympathetic chef can take account of the wine-lover’s needs and minimise
the use of these ingredients so they’re not too
dominant.

Inevitably, there’s some experimentation involved,
and that’s also part of the fun – trying out for yourself certain
dishes and certain wines, and adjusting your choices as your experience grows.
Wine is ultimately a subjective decision: it’s all about what you enjoy
yourself, and that’s what makes the world of wine so infinitely
intriguing.